UK unemployed Alcoholics Face Benefit Cuts

This article I found more to do with spin than anything else.. to take a light note on it what difference will it really make for bringing alcoholics into the workplace or have benefits cut? Realistically its the worst time for most people we are in the middle of a recession! But on a lighter note what they didnt cover on this article is the fact you have your benefits “INCREASED” if you are an alcoholic because you can then claim to be disabled. There are a lot of strange things that go on regarding being an alcoholic in the UK. But one thing is for sure financially you are better off as an alcoholic unemployed person than a fit abled.

News Article :-

The huge cost, a £3.1 billion rise since Labour came to power in 1997, has been blamed on ministers’ failure to tackle social problems and the creation of a "dependency culture".

Over the past ten years, the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) budget, which funds disability benefits, has increased from £5.7 billion to £8.8 billion a year.

New figures released under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act show that the number of drug addicts and alcoholics claiming the £60-a-week payment has risen from 3,000 in 1997, to almost 17,000 last year.

The previously confidential statistics also show that claimants suffering from psychosis – a mental illness often brought on by cannabis abuse – jumped from 63,000 to 148,000.

"They show quite clearly that Labour is just ignoring many of our root social problems.

"All we are doing is spending more money on people who are trapped on benefits without doing more practical things to help them."

To qualify for the benefits, claimants have to complete an online form from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) website.

They can be ordered to provide GPs’ letters or attend medicals if there is not enough evidence to support their claim.

But, with more than 2.8 million DLA claimants, the DWP admits it is not standard procedure.

Critics have claimed checks on claimants are not sufficiently stringent and that criminals have targeted the benefit.

Recent cases of fraud regarding the allowance include professional boxer Ray Jones who, despite fighting in more than 100 contests – including televised bouts – managed to claim £20,000. He had claimed asthma left him out of breath and unable to climb stairs.

Other figures disclosed in the FoI documents include the number of people claiming for "back pain – not specified" has doubled from 56,000 to 123,000.

A DWP spokesman said: "People claiming DLA must be able to demonstrate they have specific care or mobility needs resulting from their medical condition."